Matsushita Will Take Panasonic Name Worldwide

OSAKA, JAPAN — Matsushita Electric Industrial, best known for its Panasonic brand, will change its company name to Panasonic Corporation worldwide effective Oct. 1, and its corporate brand will be unified under Panasonic.

The change was approved at the company's board meeting on Jan. 10 and will be subject to approval at a shareholder meeting in June.

In North America, the company changed its name from Matsushita Electric Corp. of America to Panasonic Corporation of North America in January 2005.

Matsushita said that when it makes the name change it will phase out the National brand by March 30, 2010, which is used in Japan.

The company, founded by Konosuke Matsushita, has been using his last name in some form since its founding in 1918 and is using the 90th anniversary of the company to mark the change. While the company was using National and Panasonic brand names, it decided in 2003 to unify a global brand into Panasonic with a brand slogan 'Panasonic ideas for life,' the company said.